Philanthropic pursuits

It was a week in which philanthropy, optimism and power couples were the preferred flavour. To begin with, delivering a guest lecture at the London School of Economics, industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s wife, Nita Ambani, spoke about the resurgence and renaissance of India and in the process revealed her real passion: education, both academic and cultural. Her strong belief is that it is India’s soft power and demographic advantage which will give it a growing international clout.
She addressed students and guests with surprising confidence and empathy, convincing us all that she is a rare package: intelligent, articulate and good looking — very different from most of the other spokespersons for the country. She spoke convincingly as a very proud Indian — and I must say after the (usually) gloomy speeches one hears about corruption and poverty in India — this was a rather refreshing change.
There was hardly a negative word — in fact, it was a celebration of what India was capable of achieving, if its youth could be mobilised positively. In an immensely personalised speech, she wove in her own experiences, as a teacher and as a founder of schools where over 15,000 children study today all over the country. She spoke of how the Reliance Group supports not only the setting up of schools, but also a liberal arts college, as well as a state-of-the-art hospital in Mumbai — for which she hopes to attract, back to India, doctors who are now working abroad.
Punctuating her talk with visuals (including a rather nice one of her performing Bharatnatyam!), much to the delight of the cricket fans in the auditorium, she even wove in the Indian Premier League story, since she is the owner of the Mumbai team. Later, she revealed how deeply and closely she has to interact with the 40 men who comprise it, even occasionally giving them advice for their personal problems! Obviously, she had to learn about cricket and understand the performance parameters but Mrs Nita Ambani admits she was taught about “excellence” by her father-in-law, Dhirubhai Ambani. She acknowledged that both Dhirubhai Ambani and her husband have been key to her personal growth often giving her challenging assignments. One such was the setting up a green belt in the desert around their oil refinery at Jamnagar, which she now says even attracts migratory birds and yields a fabulous mango crop!
Of course, cynics can point out that everything is easy if you are married to one of the world’s richest men. However, let’s look around and see how many women are willing to stick their necks out and actually take a public stance on disparate issues. Let’s not forget that Indian women also need good role models — outside of Bollywood and politics. Modern female figures in the public space are important to showcase India as a young country, where women are articulate, confident and stylish — something which (with apologies to our President, Pratibha Patil who is usually bundled up from head to toe) — does not happen too often.
For once, Mr Mukesh Ambani had to sit back and watch his wife take the accolades — but to his credit, he looked like a very happy husband.
The other power couple whom we heard a few days later, was Bill and Melinda Gates. They were in London. Like Mrs Nita Ambani — they too struck a cheery note saying they wanted to promote the “good news” about the impact of targeted welfare policies for the very poor around the world. (Is there a new happiness bug in the air? Why does everyone want to sound so positive?)
It was an extremely well-rehearsed, very American, flawless, hour-long double act, called “Living Proof”, launched in partnership with the One Foundation.
It began dramatically, when the Gates bounced up the stairs of the Science Museum auditorium, and took turns to let us know about the various initiatives they — and others — had supported and the valuable difference the programmes had made. In a packed room which included the singer Bono who is a very vocal supporter of anti-poverty campaigns, and many other chiefs of various aid agencies — the Gates demonstrated to us with statistics and film clips how well certain campaigns were doing, particularly in African countries.
Their suggestion was that very rarely do we see this side of the picture: that campaigns are working and that philanthropy is actually making the world a better place. Perhaps the most thrilling data that evening was how dramatically child mortality has fallen all over the world.
The eradication of diseases such as small pox, thanks to the increase in childhood vaccinations, the Gates’ own effort to distribute mosquito nets to fight against malaria, and the success against maternal deaths in countries like Rwanda — were also referred to.
Instead of looking at the glass half empty — they urged us to look at the glass half full, and how much had been achieved. “Development aid, when spent wisely, is the most effective investment that governments can make for saving lives, improving livelihoods, and building prosperous societies”, Mr Gates pointed out. The sentiment was echoed by his wife; and both of them thanked the British government for continuing aid in poorer countries, rather than cutting it in these very straitened economic times.
As a couple who have decided to donate 95 per cent of their earnings to philanthropic pursuits, it was elevating to meet them at the wine and canapé reception later on, and shake their hand. After all, how many of us even think of donating one per cent of our income so happily?
Coming back to the question of UK overseas aid — it is, no doubt, going to become a contentious issue. Over and over again people are discussing the fact that even though the UK has cut its aid to countries such as China and Russia — it will probably continue to send aid to India. After all, the critics are quick to point that the UK is barely registering growth and there are going to be many victims of the reduction in welfare spending as advocated in the Comprehensive Spending Review by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, this week. So instead of the money remaining at home — is it fair to support a country like India which is growing at nine per cent every year?
Perhaps, if indeed aid is offered, the Indian government should do the beleagured British government a huge favour and refuse the money — don’t you think? Sometimes refusing aid itself could be considered a philanthropic act…

The writer can be contacted at kishwardesai@yahoo.com [2]